Battleship Charlemagne

The battleship Charlemagne belonged to the ship class of the same name, which consisted of a total of 3 battleships, which were built at the beginning of the 90s of the 19th century and were part of the Statut Naval, the construction of a large French battleship fleet.

Launch and design:

Between 1889 and 1893, construction began on a total of 5 battleships, which were not only the first French battleships, but also, as part of the Statute Naval issued by the Ministry of the Navy, the beginning of a large fleet of battleships. These ships were, however, of different designers and accordingly also different in construction and equipment. After the start of construction of the last of the 5 battleships, the ministry demanded a new and uniform battleship class. Background should not only be the simplified and fast building of the ships, but also the simpler maintenance and servicing of these, since now the spare parts for each ship would be the same and should not be too different any more.

The Jauréguiberry battleship was chosen as the basis, as it was the most balanced of the 5 approved designs. However, the Ministry of the Navy made some new demands on the new class of ships, especially with regard to the main armament.

According to the first designs finally approved version had a length of 117,7, a width of 20,3 meters and a draught of 8,4 meters. In contrast to the previous battleships, not only 2 x 305 mm main guns were now mounted in individual turrets, but a total of 4 x 305 mm guns were now mounted in a double turret at the front and rear of the ship. This should double the firepower. The gun turrets were driven by electric motors for lateral movement. However, the pipes still had to be adjusted to the appropriate height by hand wheel. In return for the removal of the main armament, the previously used 2 x 274 mm guns were removed from the Charlemagne class, for which the ships were equipped with 10 x 138,6, 8 x 100 mm, 20 x 47 mm guns and 4 torpedo tubes.

A total of 820,7 tons of Harvey armour plates were used for the armor. At the waistline it was up to 400 mm thick, on the deck up to 90 mm, the turrets of the main guns up to 320 mm and those of the middle artillery up to 270 mm.

Three 4-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, each driving one screw, were installed as the drive. The required power of 14.500 hp was provided by 20 Belleville steam boilers, which brought a maximum speed of up to 18 knots.

The Charlemagne was then launched on 17 October 1895 and commissioned on 15 September 1897.

Drawing of the Charlemagne Class

Battleship Charlemagne

History of Charlemagne:

Originally the Charlemagne was to be assigned to the Atlantic squadron after the commissioning and the test runs, but this was changed at short notice and the ship was assigned to the 1st Mediterranean squadron.

In the following 4 years several maneuvers and exercises were accomplished also in the compound with the Atlantic squadron. In October 1901 the Charlemagne participated in the occupation of the Ottoman port Mytilini to enforce the French interest against the Ottoman Empire.

Until October 1909 further manoeuvres were carried out every year until the ship was assigned to the Atlantic squadron. This was also used for annual manoeuvres and several round trips to various ports, which were only interrupted by maintenance from September 1912 to May 1913.

After the stay in the shipyard, the ship was again assigned to the Mediterranean fleet and served as a training ship until the outbreak of the First World War.

Battleship Charlemagne

Use in war:

When the First World War broke out in Europe, the Charlemagne, along with other older battleships, was divided up to protect troop transport from North Africa to France.

At the end of February 1915, the ship was ordered off the Dardanelles to support the upcoming Allied invasion of the Ottoman Peninsula. On March 18, the Charlemagne participated in the advance into the strait, after British battleships had already fired at and partially destroyed the Ottoman positions. The remaining positions, as well as those that were at the narrowest point of the strait, were then to be fought by French battleships from a closer distance. The Charlemagne received some hits from the Ottoman artillery, but the damage was rather small. On the way back, the battleship Bouvet sailed onto a sea mine and sank within 2 minutes. Also the Gaulois received 2 hits by sea mines, sank however not and drove from own strength of the Charlemagne accompanied to the rabbit islands north of Tenedos, where it was repaired. The Charlemagne itself ran into the port of Bizerte and was repaired there until May 1915.

After the repair the ship returned to the allied squadron in front of the Dardanelles, which seldom fired at Ottoman positions before the troops had to retreat from the beaches.

In October 1915 the transfer to Salonica took place, from where allied warships were to increase the pressure on Greece to join the German Empire in the war against France and Great Britain.

From May to August 1916 the ship was overhauled in Bizerte and then returned to Salonica.

In August 1917 the ship was ordered to Toulon, on 17 September 1917 it was allocated to the reserve and from 1 November 1917 the development of the weapons began. The ship remained in Toulon until the end of the war.

Battleship Charlemagne

Whereabouts:

The Charlemagne was removed from the list of warships after the war on 21 June 1920, sold in 1923 and then scrapped.